Baking Soda and Vinegar Hair Wash

It’s time to wash my hair again. That’s not exactly breaking news (!), but I thought it might be a good moment to write a post about how we wash our hair here on the Farmlet.Since about April this year, I’ve been washing my hair with baking soda and vinegar.
How do you do this?
Just put a couple of tablespoons of baking soda in a dish, and mix with enough water to form a soft paste. Once your hair is wet through, apply the baking soda paste to your scalp (only the scalp, not the rest of the hair). Take some time to massage the baking soda into your scalp with your fingertips. Leave for a few minutes, massage a little more, then rinse thoroughly.
After washing out the baking soda, I rinse my hair with a solution of water and apple cider vinegar (about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 3/4 cup of water). I don’t apply this solution to the scalp, only to the hair shaft — especially the ends. You can rinse out the vinegar if you want, but I like to leave most of it to condition the hair. Of course, I smell like a pickle for a while, but the odour disappears once the hair dries.
NB: Baking soda is a strong hair wash. It will probably dry out your hair if you are using it too frequently (I think this is also true of most commercial shampoos). The formula works best if you wait until your hair actually needs a wash — this might be about once a week, depending on your hair and your lifestyle.
This simple baking soda and vinegar formula seems to work fine for me (My hair is normal to slightly oily, with a tendency to get a bit dry at the ends.) Reputedly, baking soda doesn’t work too well on dry hair. People with dry hair might try using honey, which is a natural emollient, to moisturise the scalp. I’ve heard that this works, but have never tried it.
I wish Kevin and I had known before this year that we could wash our hair like this. It’s a simple, inexpensive trick that really works. Admittedly, Kevin and I are not very fussy about the state of our hair. We never bothered with designer haircuts, blow drying etc., even when we were not living out in the wopwops. Still, I think our hair is in better condition than it was when we were using commercial shampoo. And then there are all the dodgy chemicals and additives that we are not pouring onto ourselves and into the environment.